Examiner: Are there any TV channels in your country that don’t have adverts

Loraine: No … they’re all commercial channels and show adverts all day long … too many really … and there’s also a lot of product placement going on … especially in soap operas where they place an item just behind the actors

Examiner: Do you enjoy watching adverts on TV?

Karin: No … not really … I hate commercial breaks during a film … it really spoils the flow … and during prime time viewing they seem to squeeze even more ads in than usual … celebrity endorsements also get on my nerves … everyone knows they’re only doing it because they’re getting paid.

Examiner: What are the best ways for ordinary people to advertise something they want to sell in your country?

Marianne: The simplest way is to place an advert in something like the classified ads section of a local paper … or there’s the Internet of course … there are lots of sites like eBay where you can buy and sell things online.

Part 2-style task

Describe an advert you once saw that was very effective. You should say

where this advert appeared

when you saw it

what it was advertising

and say why you thought it was so effective

Max: OK … well this was about 4 years ago … I was looking for some software to create videos … one day I got an email from a mailing list I’d signed up to … there was a link in it to a press release … a company had written something about a new product that was similar to what I was looking for … at the end of the press release there was a link to the sales page … I hadn’t heard of the company but I was interested and clicked the link to the ad …. what caught my attention immediately were the number of testimonials from people who had bought the software … I think testimonials are like the online equivalent of word of mouth advertising and are really persuasive … anyway … when I got to the bottom of the page there was a great big call to action button inviting me to buy … I was totally persuaded and ended up making a purchase … what made it so effective I think was the power of those testimonials … they’d been written by people very much like me … they’d had a need and the software had obviously turned out to be just what they were looking for … when you think that this was a newish company they wouldn’t have had any brand awareness at all … they probably wouldn’t have had much of a budget for advertising … obviously you wouldn’t advertise a product like this through the mass media on TV … they probably didn’t even have an advertising agency to support them …and yet they’d managed to create a great deal of brand loyalty from previous customers … I think that was really effective.

Part 3-style questions

Examiner: What is it that makes an advert effective?

Spencer: Well … when a company launches a product they have to consider the Internet … especially how it can be used to spread the word on social media … so in this context a video that goes viral is probably the most effective type of advert you could make.

Examiner: What are the advantages to companies of advertising on the Internet rather than TV?

Stelios: I’d imagine the main advantage is you can reach your target audience much more effectively … if you bring out a niche product for example … or you have a tight advertising budget … you can advertise on particular sites that the people you want to reach visit … that’s not something you can do on TV.

Examiner: What things do advertising companies do that might give it a bad name?

Raol: For me the most irritating is cold calling … we must get two or three of these every day at work … then there’s junk mail that gets posted through the letterbox … and of course the online equivalent of this … spam emails … I think it’s this kind of advertising that tends to annoy people.

لغات مهم :

advertising agency: a company that creates adverts for other companies

advertising budget: the amount of money a company decides to spend on advertising

brand awareness: how well people know a particular brand

brand loyalty: the degree to which people continue to buy from the same brand or company

buy and sell: often used to refer to the buying and selling of items between individuals

call to action: something that encourages someone to take a particular action, such as making a purchase or clicking a link on a website

celebrity endorsement: to have a well-known person promote a product

classified ads: small advertisements often put in a newspaper or magazine by individuals

to cold call: to call someone with the aim of selling something without them asking you to do so

commercial break: the short period during TV programmes when advertisements are shown

commercial channel: TV channels that make money from showing advertisements

to go viral: to quickly become extremely popular on the Internet through social media

junk mail: unwanted promotional leaflets and letters

to launch a product: to introduce a new product

mailing list: a list of names and contact details used by a company to send information and advertisements

mass media: large media outlets like TV, newspapers and magazines

niche product: a product that is aimed at a distinct group of people

to place an advert: to put an advert somewhere

press release: something written by a company for newspapers and magazines and websites to share and publish

prime time: the time during the viewing schedule when most people watch TV or listen to a broadcast

product placement: to advertise a product by using it as a prop in a TV show or film

sales page: a page specifically used to promote a product or service

to show adverts: to display adverts on TV

social media: websites that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

spam email: unwanted, promotional email

target audience: the people a company want to sell their product or service to

word of mouth: recommendations made by individuals to other individuals about a product of service